Literary Birthday – 9 February – Thomas Bernhard

It would be wrong to refuse to face the fact that everything is fundamentally sick and sad.

The art we need is the art of bearing the unbearable.

Very often we write down a sentence too early, then another too late; what we have to do is write it down at the proper time, otherwise it’s lost.

Time destroys everything we do, whatever it is.

I really only write about inner landscapes and most people don’t see them, because they see practically nothing within, because they think that because it’s inside, it’s dark, and so they don’t see anything. I don’t think I’ve ever yet, in any of my books, described a landscape. There’s really nothing of the kind in any of them. I only ever write concepts.

Nothing but disaster follows from applause.

Thomas Bernhard was an Austrian author and playwright. He was one of the most distinguished German speaking writers of the second half of the 20th century. Some of his most well known works include The Loser, Correction, and Woodcutters.